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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "huge deposit" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • clive_mingay@hotmail.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Mathew Rotomi <ra_rotomi2@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:34:32 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: NEXT OF KIN.


Dear Sir/Madam,
=A0
My name is Clive John Mingay, a Banker and accountant with a bank here in A=
ccra-Ghana. I am the personal account manager to Engr.Micheal Erickson a Na=
tional of your country (Illinois USA), who used to work with an oil servici=
ng company here in Ghana. My client, his wife, and their three children wer=
e involved in the ill fated Russian flight (Aeroflot Nord,(http://www.plane=
crashinfo.com) crash in the coasts of Perm, Russia=A0 on 14th September 200=
8 in which all 88 passengers aboard died.=20

Since then I have made several inquiries to your embassy to locate any of m=
y clients extended relatives but has been unsuccessful. After several unsuc=
cessful attempts, I decided to trace his last name over the internet,to see=
if I could locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.=20
Of particular interest is this huge deposit with our bank here in,where the=
deceased has an account valued at about US$18,200,000.00 only (Eigtheen mi=
llion,Two Hundred United State Dollars).

My Bank have issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or the bank will=
declare the account unservicable, since my client did not service the acco=
unt for nearly 18 months before his untimely death. The funds will be sent =
to the Goverment treasury if it remain unclaimed since the authority of my =
bank are in the know of my clients death together with is entire family. Si=
nce I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over the last fe=
w days now, I will seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of t=
he deceased since you have the same last name, so that the proceeds of this=
account valued at (USD$ 18.2 million US dollars) can be paid to you and th=
en we can share the money. All I require is your honest cooperation to enab=
le us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a=
ll legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.=
If you can handle this with me, reach me immediately through my
email address and please include full names and address,date of birth and =
your phone numbers for more discussions.

Thanking you for your anticipated cooperation,=20

Clive John Mingay.=20
+233 248139256
clive_mingay@hotmail.co.uk
=A0=0A=0A=0A

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam